Computer systems have long executed software programs that are presented to an end user to provide input or otherwise manipulate the program. Some programs are represented by icons on a display screen that an end user can select or otherwise invoke to produce a result or behavior, such as producing a sound, displaying a graphic image, or displaying a software application menu. For example, an end user can select an icon of a spreadsheet file to activate a software spreadsheet application. Typically, such behaviors are programmed into the software program using the computer language of the program. A programmer is usually the creator of the icon and associated behavior for the end user.
An icon can also be modified after it has been created. This is often done by a technical support person, such as a system administrator, rather than by the end user of the computer system. The system administrator can make a limited or specific change in the behavior associated with a displayed icon by using menus and data entry fields, such as changing the icon that is associated with a given program, but the procedures for doing this are typically cumbersome. When these changes are made, the technical support person is focused on a specific issue, such as changing the icon displayed for a program, rather than viewing the icon and its related program as a whole object.
More recently, object systems such as HTML, CGI scripts, Java programs, and Java Beans (objects) provide displayed text or objects that have behaviors programmed into them. The software programmer is, in effect, an object designer who creates and modifies the objects seen by the end user. The end users select different objects, such as ones with different HTML links, to get different behaviors, such as moving to a different object or text display based on the HTML link. Typically, an object designer must be a software engineer in order to create and change complicated objects. One problem is that changes may be made by programmers without authorization from the originators and/or owners of the displayed text or object.
Therefore, an objective of the invention is to provide a locking mechanism to prevent unauthorized individuals from changing locked aspects of an object.